Panel mounted electrical connectors are known in the art, and such a connector generally includes a housing mounting a plurality of terminals for mating with a complementary connector. The housing may be mounted to a generally rigid panel for mating of the connector with the complementary connector through an opening in the panel, or the housing may be mounted on the panel simply for structural or support purposes within a circuit interconnection system.
Various means have been used to mount the connector to a panel, such as mounting clips or brackets operatively associated between the connector housing and the panel to mount and hold the connector to the panel. In other systems, the connector housing is inserted into the opening in the panel to an insertion position and then moved relative to the panel, within the opening, to a final mounted position whereat the connector is latched by latch means directly on the connector housing.
One of the problems with panel mounted connectors of the character described above is that separate latch means for holding the connector in the opening in the panel takes up valuable "real estate" on the panel and weakens the structure. In other words, if it is desirable to mount the connector close to another connector or any other structure, the latch means often requires the connector to be unnecessarily spaced from any surrounding component with a weakened panel. For instance, the latch means may include extraneous "outboard" latch openings in the panel. Engaging flanges or lugs often are used on one or more sides of the connector housing to hold the housing in the panel openings, and latches often project from still other sides of the connector housing to unnecessarily enlarge the connector envelope.
The present invention is directed to solving the problems discussed above in a panel mounting system for an electrical connector, and particularly in the latch means for holding the connector in its final mounted position.